Railroad ditching-machine.



P. JONES & H. C. MILLER.

RAILROAD DITCHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2|. I916.

M m m Patented May 7,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l- Patented May 7,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEEI 2 INVENTUR' P. JONES & R. C. MILLER. RAILROAD DITCHINGMACHINF APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21. 1916.

P. JONES & R. C. MILLER. RRRRRRRRR ITCHING MACHINE.

Patented May 7,1918.

3 SHEETS- EEEEE 3.

JPA'UL JONES AND RALPH C. MILLER, OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

RAILROAD DITCI-IING-MAGHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May W, 191%.

Application filed November 21, 1916. Serial No. 132,552.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, PAUL Jones and RALPH G. MILLER, citizens of theUnited States, and residents of Toledo, in the county of Lucas and Stateof Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful RailroadDitching-Machine; and we do hereby de clare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to thecharacters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to open ditch making machines, and particularlyto those of the type adapted for forming ditches at the sides of railwayroad beds.

The object of our invention is the provision of an improved apparatus ofthe character described which is simple and eflicient in itsconstruction and operation and capable of easily and quickly looseningthe soil and digging a ditch of predetermined contour in cross-section,and at the same time delivering the excavated soil to the outer side ofthe ditch. Further objects and advantages of the invention Will beapparent from the following detailed description thereof.

While the invention, in its broader aspect, is capable of embodiment innumerous forms, a preferred embodiment thereof is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is the cross-section of a railway road bed, with an apparatusembodying the invention in ditch digging position. Fig. 2 is a top planview thereof. Fig. 3 is a diametrical view of the ditch forming moldboard as it appears in front elevation when in use. Fig. 4 is a sideelevation of an apparatus embodying the invention. Fig. 5 is an enlargedperspective View of the soil loosenin means and a portion of the moldboard. *igs. 6 and 7 are side and plan views of the mold board, thelatter being set at the angle in which it appears, and the horizontaldotted lines designating the angle lines of the ditch, and Figs. 8, 9,10 and 11 are sections taken, respectively, on lines 8-8, 9-9, 10-10 and11-11 in Fig. 7.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates a railroad bed having a track 2thereon, and 3 a flat car operating on the track, having a derrick 4mounted thereon. A. frame 5 is pivotally connected at its inner end to aside edge of the car 3 for vertical swinging movements and has itsraising and lowering movements controlled by cables 6, each of which, inthe present instance, is anchored at its outer end to the frame 5, as at7, thence extends over a respective sheave 8 at the top of the derrickand down to a Windlass 9 on which both cables wind.

The frame 5 carries a plow or mold board 10 at the under side of itsouter end portion, which, when the frame is in lowered position and thecar 3 is moved forward, is adapted to form a ditch or channel 11 in theroad bed at one side of the car. The frame 5 also carries a harrow 12 inadvance of the plow 10 to loosen 0r harrow the soil in advance of theplow, the portion of the soil loosened by the harrow substantiallyconforming in cross-sectional area to the crosssectional form of theditch.

The plow 10 comprises a blade or mold board which is disposed diagonallyof its path of movement and is so shaped as to level the land at theinner or track side of the trench, form the trench with inclined sides,and deliver the dislodged soil away from the trench at the outer sidethereof, as indicated in Fig. 1. For this purpose a plow blade isprovided with a vertically narrowed nose portion 13, which passes overthe inner bank or track side of the trench to level such bank, the bladethen increasing in depth at the inner end of the nose to form the trenchdigging body part 14, the lower edge ofwhich is fashioned to form theditch of pre determined shape in cross-section. Tn the present instancethe lower edge of the trench digging portion 14 of the blade has theoppositely tapered inner and outer sides 15 and 16 and the connectingbottom portion 17 The body portion of the blade has its outer endfashioned to extend on an incline over the outer side of the trench bankto deliver the excavated soil over said bank away from the trench andsmooth the inner side of the bank formed by the excavated soil so as toform a continuation of the inclined outer the blade to have a tendencyto dig into the soil as it is drawn forward. It is thus evident that itis not necessary to weight the plow or outer end portion of the frame 5in order to cause the plow to work down into the soil, but on thecontrary it is necessary to exert an upward restraining force topreventthe plow from digging too deeply into the soil. The depth ofdigging is regulated by the cable 6, as the more said cable is playedout the deeper will be the out. The digging-in edge 18 gradually narrowsin width as it extends rearward and finally loses itself in the blade,as shown by the cross-sections in Figs. 8 to 11.

The outer end of the plow blade preferably has a leveling arm 19pivotally proj ecting outward in rearwardlyinclined horizontal positiontherefrom and efiects a lev eling and outward scraping of the topsurface of the bank, as is apparent by reference to Fig. l. The plane ofprojection of the arm 19 from the blade 10 is adjusted by a cable 19which projects upward from the arm over a sheave 1'9 on the derrick 4:,and attaches to a cleat 19 thereon.

The harrow 12 has a plurality of transversely spaced harrow members 20which, in the present instance, are in the form of stationary knives orteeth, which project downward from the top portion or framework of theharrow and are arranged in two transversely extending sets disposed oneat the rear of the other, and in alternating relation thereto. Theharrow members 20 vary in depth in accordance with the depth of theportion of the trench to be loosened thereby, so that they combine toloosen the soil in conformance to the cross-sectional form of the trenchto be dug, as shown in Fig. 1. In other words, the depth of penetrationof the soil by the respective members 2O is gaged by the length thereofto conform to the depth of digging of the portion of the plow bladefollowing the respective members.

It is evident that we have provided an improved plow particularlyadapted for the forming of ditches at the sides of road beds, and thatthe harrow and plow blade cooperate to dig a ditch of predeterminedshape and area in cross-section, and that the bladeand scraper arm 19cooperate to deliver the excavated soil at the outer side of the trenchand to level and smooth the top and inner side of the bank formed by theexcavated soil.

We wish itunderstood that our invention is not limited to any specificconstruction or form of the parts, as it is capable of numerousmodifications without departing from the spirit of the claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is,

'1. In a railway ditching machine, a car,

a frame pivotally connected at its inner end to a side of the car, aharrow extending transversely across the frame at the front end thereofand at substantially right angles thereto, a mold board carried by theframe to the rear of the harrow and being inclined so as to have itsends extend beyond the ends of the harrow, a vertically movable levelingarm pivoted at its inner end to the outer end of said mold board andinclining rearwardly therefrom, and means connected to the leveling armand to the car limiting downward movement of said arm.

2. In a railway ditching machine, a car, a frame carried by the car, aseries of vertical cutting blades arranged substantially parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the ditch to be out, said blades depending from theframe and being of varying lengths so as to approximate in generaloutline the shape of the ditch to be cut, and a mold board extending atan incline to the plane of said cutting blades and across the latter tothe .rear thereof and having lower edges approximating in shape, theshape of the ditch to be cut.

3. In a railway ditching machine, a'car, a frame carried by theca'r, anda plow blade carried by the frame, said blade having a narrowed nose atits inner end and a central part having upwardly diverged sides with abottom connecting said diverged sides, the outer of'said diverged sidesbeing rolled inwardly to provide a digging edge.

4. In a railway ditching machine, a car, a frame carried by the car, aseries of vertical cutting blades depending from the frame and arrangedat substantially right angles thereto and each having stepped upwardlyinclined lower edges, the blades of one series being staggered inrelation to the blades of the other-series, and a plow blade carried bythe frame and arranged to the rear of the vertical cutting blades, saidplow blades extending diagonally of the vertical cutting blades.

5. In a railway ditching machine, a car, a frame carried by the car, aseries of vertical cutting blades depending from the frame and arrangedat substantially right angles thereto and each having stepped upwardlyinclined lower edges, the blades of one series being staggered inrelation to the blades of the other series, and a plow blade carried bythe frame and arranged to the rear of the vertical cutting blades, saidplow blade extending diagonally of the vertical cutting blades andhaving a cutting edge which extends outwardly beyond the outermostvertical blades and at anangle to the cutting edges thereof.

6. In a railway ditching machine, a car, a frame carriedby the 'car, aharrow carried by the frame and having cutters arranged with theircutting edges at substantially right angles to the frame and a plowblade carried by the frame and arranged at an angle to the harrow, saidplow blade having a bottom part forming the ditch bottom and having acutting edge which curves inwardly and extends outwardly from the outerend of said bottom part and gradually narrowing and merging into theouter end of the plow blade, said cutting edge extending outwardlybeyond the outer end of the harrow, and a narrowed nose formed on theinner end of the plow blade.

7. In a railway ditching machine, a car, a frame carried by the Year,and a plow blade carried by the frame and shaped to approximate theshape of the ditch to be cut, said blade having a central bottom partand upwardly diverged sides extending from the respective ends of saidbottom part, the outer of said diverged sides being curved inwardly toform a digging edge and a series of vertical cutters carried by theframe in advance of said blade, said digging edge having its inner edgeextending to approximately the center of the series of vertical cutters.

In testimony whereof, We have hereunto signed our names to thisspecification.

PAUL JONES. RALPH C. MILLER.

Women at thins patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Gommissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

